1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, a pixel structure and manufacturing process thereof, and more particularly, to a transflective LCD panel, a transflective pixel structure and manufacturing process thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Due to rapid development of information industry, the application of display technology, especially for portable products, is striding forward to miniaturization, being thin and light, high brightness, low power wastage and high quality output of full color image etc.
In order to meet the requirements of the above mentioned portable products, a reflective LCD is provided in the prior art. The conventional reflective LCD panel uses electrical conductive materials having light beam reflectable character as the pixel electrode. The light reflection of the pixel from external light source is used as the light source for displaying images. The reflective LCD panel is not only taken as one of the most developing potential technologies, but also has been used for some massively-produced products. However, though the display device with the reflective LCD panel can display a clear image under ambient light condition, it is unable to output high quality images when the external light source is insufficient resulting in shortage of light source in the display device of the LCD. In other words, the recent conventional reflective LCD cannot effectively solve the problem that the performance of a display device is restricted by the brightness of the external environment.
In view of the above-mentioned situation, a transflective LCD panel, which integrates a reflective LCD panel with a transmissive LCD panel is provided. The transmissive LCD panel uses a transparent electrical conductive material as the pixel electrode of a pixel, such as indium tin oxide (ITO), and a backlight module is used to make light pass through the transparent pixel electrode for image display. In the transflective LCD panel, each pixel electrode comprises a reflective electrical conductive thin film and a transparent electrical conductive thin film. The display device adapted with this LCD panel outputs a good image when the external light is sufficient. Furthermore, the display device can also achieve a good image output effect when the external light source is insufficient through the backlight module of the display device. However, for the LCD, the light reflecting ratio of the pixel is in a direct proportion to the area of the reflective electrical conductive thin film. The area of the reflective electrical conductive thin film must be increased accordingly if the light reflecting ratio of the reflecting portion of the pixel is to be increased. As a result, the opening ratio of the transmissive portion of the pixel will be affected. If the opening ratio of the transmissive portion of the pixel is not sufficient, in order to maintain image output quality, the brightness of the backlight source must be increased. Consequently, more power wastage is occurred.